Ahead of the season-starting Melbourne race, Aston Martin’s team boss Andy Cowell has revealed the Silverstone-based F1 squad is already benefitting from the Adrian Newey effect.
Adrian Newey announced last May that he would leave Red Bull after a 19-year spell at the Milton Keynes-based outfit. The Briton then confirmed last September that he would join Aston Martin as managing technical partner from 2025.
Having served his gardening leave at Red Bull, a new era has dawned at Aston Martin as Newey started work at the team last Monday.
Providing inside into Newey’s first days at Aston Martin, the team’s CEO and team boss Andy Cowell has revealed that he has already “immersed himself with engineers.”
“There’s been huge interest in Adrian’s arrival but he’s not one for great ceremony. He walked into his office at the AMR Technology Campus, put his briefcase down, and was in a concept meeting almost straight away, discussing an area of the car.
“He’s embedded himself immediately. He’s met all our exec team and quickly immersed himself with our engineers, attentively listening to what people are saying about the work they’ve done.
“Ultimately, he’s an engineer helping engineer our race cars. He’s just rolled his sleeves up and got straight into the job. He’s asking questions, he’s offering opinions and he’s bringing a fresh perspective. We’re delighted to have him.”
As many tip the 2025 F1 season to become one of the closest-fought F1 seasons, Cowell thinks that the stability of technical rules will lead to a natural convergence of performance across the field.
“This is the last year of this current regulation set, so there’s been zero regulation change through the winter and a high degree of mechanical carryover. When there’s such stability in F1, car performance naturally converges.
“The field was tightly packed at the end of last year, and our pre-season testing analysis shows that it’s going to be exceptionally close from the off this season.
“It’s likely we’ll often see as little as 10 milliseconds determining who progresses through the different stages in Qualifying. When you’re chasing such fine margins, factors like setup, tyre preparation and the execution of changing from one tyre set to another, and finding a gap on track so that the drivers are not impeded or driving in dirty air will all be crucial. Everything needs to be perfect.
“Those 10 milliseconds have a bearing on the race too – they can make or break your weekend. Even with the DRS, it can be difficult to overtake so every position gained in Qualifying really matters.
“The challenge is to maximise the setup of the car that we put on the track for Free Practice One and refine it right up to Qualifying. Then, in the excitement and pressure of an intense Qualifying session, we need to seize the opportunity to move up the grid through perfect execution, rather than others seizing the opportunity that we’ve provided to them.”
That Melburnian charm. 🇦🇺#AusGP pic.twitter.com/74So8Ef26b
— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) March 11, 2025
Asked about his expanded role at Aston Martin, Cowell said that there have been many changes to the Silverstone-based F1 outfit.
“I’m there to support and help the team in any way I can, making sure we get the very best from ourselves each race weekend. This sport is about maximising the number of points we take home from any given Grand Prix.
“The two races that I attended last year and pre-season testing in Bahrain have shown me that we have a great team of people that work brilliantly together. I’m looking forward to seeing more of that this weekend and over the season.
“There’s a handful of new people in the team and some in new positions, but they were all bedding in well in Bahrain and they know what to do. My task is to ensure we’re optimising everything and that everyone in the team has the tools they need to get the job done.”
